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Business Class

January 13, 2009

Don’t wait until it’s too late!

Business Etiquette Rules
Adrianne Machina

Tornado Marketing

Summary

We just finished a minor remodeling project in our family room to add built-in cabinetry for our books, games and videos.  Our cabinetry con

We just finished a minor remodeling project in our family room to add built-in cabinetry for our books, games and videos.  Our cabinetry contractor was outstanding.  He was professional, articulate, on-time, worked well with the other contractors, and kept his promises.  When he wrapped up the project, I thanked him profusely for the beautiful job he did and asked him if I could provide him with a reference.  He said that he was actually quitting his business to get a full-time job.

Broke ContractorWHAT???!

This contractor had been in business for 10 years, happily going from one project to the next, building his business through customer referrals.  He’d never built a website.  He never developed a referral system.  He never developed sales collateral – just a business card.  He was successful because his work was so good.  His hap-hazard approach to business worked for a while, but he never made as much as he could have, and slowly the work started drying up.  He looked into getting a bank loan to fund some marketing, but he was already stretched too thin.   Now he has no choice but to close his doors.  He’s thinking of getting a job at Home Depot.

That’s like having Picasso work at McDonald’s.  He deserves better.  Much better.

This true story should be a word of caution to everyone whose business is slowing down.  Don’t wait until it’s too late to start marketing your business!  You can’t fire a gun with no bullets.  You need time and money to market your business successfully.  It doesn’t matter how brilliant or talented you are, if you don’t have clients, you don’t have a business.  You need a systematic way to attract clients, and you need to be marketing in good times and in bad.

If your business is slowing down, start marketing aggressively NOW - while you still have bullets left in your gun.  Ask yourself, “What’s going to change in your business six months from now if you don’t take action today?”